soundboard de cheevo

(Pictured above. Every Alice on Earth in 1991, in a burned-out firehouse at Orr Park, the place we will be playing tomorrow. The photo was taken from my then and now best friend, Clare Vance. Below: Cleaning off the rust at our first practice in 6 years.) Tomorrow my first band, Every Alice on Earth , reunites for the first time in five years. We got started in January of 1991 when I was a freshman at University of Montevallo. Eric McGinty and identical twins, Peter and Paul Wilm, were sophomores at the time. We were remembering last night at practice that our first practice, before Eric joined, was in Fuller dorm and an R.A. told us to keep in down and kicked me off the hall for being in a men's dorm after 9:00. My how times have changed. It's weird to think that 15 years ago we had another Bush in the White House, everyone still listened to tapes, and there was no such thing as e-mail or the internet for the masses. Highlights of our band career so far have been: * Playing ...

This is stupid, but strangely fascinating. I love the cronyism between Bush and Blair and so must someone else who had a hell of a lot of time to spare. The song is by a band called Electric Six. I guess they get props for knowing the correct pronounciation of the word "nuclear".

1. Soul Patrol -- I am glad that another Birmingham-native has won "American Idol," but the name of Taylor Hicks' fanbase is lame considering the core of that group lives in the suburbs and drives kid tanks with 'W' stickers on the back. 2. Anything concerning Paris Hilton or her stupid little dog 3. Any coverage of the Natalee Hollaway case that is not directly connected to the investigation of her disappearance. I am sorry for her family, but damn, enough is enough already. I know everyone in Mountain Brook is shocked that something bad has happened in their exclusive neighborhood, but it's not page one news anymore. 4. Songs: Daniel Powter 's "Bad Day" and James Blunt 's "You're Beautiful" -- Barry Manilow can rest easy knowing that sappy piano songs are back and in full force. I have an automatic hatred for songs that I can't get away from and "Bad Day" was played every single time someone was voted of...

Lloyd Bensten had an impressive resume from his military beginnings to serving as a Senator and Secretary of Treasury under Bill Clinton, but no moment stands out like the verbal bitch slap he gave Dan Quayle during the Oct. 5, 1988 vice presidential debate.

Back in March I posted a piece about Tom Cruise having episode of "South Park" pulled from Comedy Central because it poked fun at Cruise's religion, Scientology, and the super sensitive topic of his sexuality. Cruise threatened to not promote his latest movie, "Mission Impossible III", if all-encompassing parent company, Viacom, didn't pull the cartoon. The more Scientologists want to shield themself from public scrutiny, the more we want to know and this episode of "South Park" lays it all out on the table, aliens, spaceships and all. Unlike most episodes of the show, the South Park boys take a literal interpretation of Scientology doctrine and animate it. Truth definitely is stranger than science fiction in this case. The reason Tom and his church were so mad about the "South Park" episode is because this group has a strange philosophy, not unlike the Freemasons, that what goes on behind closed doors is only for their paid members to...

Alexis Arquette , member of the famous Arquette acting family, underground cartoonist and transgendered person has always captivated me. I always loved her wicked humor in the drag documentary "Wigstock" and random cinematic appearances in everything from "Pulp Fiction" to "Bride of Chucky". Alexis' quick wit and unapologetic stance on gender ambiguity made her a stand out gem on the latest installment of "The Surreal Life" -- a car crash of a reality show that is just too damn funny to not watch. The premise of the show, now in season six, is a casting of has-been celebs with young unknown one-trick ponies like Playboy models and professional wrestlers. They live together in a beautifully tricked-out Hollywood Hills house for six weeks or so. Alums include Vanilla Ice, the former Tammy Faye Bakker, Ron Jeremy and Corey Feldman to paint a not-so pretty picture of the insanity behind the show. The latest freak fest delivers, especially when ...

Top: Alexis Arquette calls it out on "The Surreal Life 6". With a name like that, he was destined to become a fabulous woman and sister-in-law of Courteney Cox-Arquette. - Middle Left: As a man in 1999, a persona now retired. - Middle Right: With Florence Henderson on a very special underground episode of The Brady Bunch, "A Different Daughter." Suddenly Jan's middle child complexes don't seem like such an issue. - Bottom: Alexis upstages Andrea Lowell, of Playboy fame, and professional girlfriend of someone more famous, Tawny Kitaen. Her Patti Smyth/Tina Turner/Kajagoogoo creation is an amazing bit of glam artistry that Poison, in their prime, would never have attempted.

Alexis Arquette's entrance into the world of pop culture began in 1983 when he, as a boy, starred in the classic early MTV video for "She's a Beauty" by The Tubes . He says his older sister, Rosanna , got him the job, but imdb.com says he just happened to be on the set that day and they needed a kid his age. Alexis says he saw cocaine for the first time on the set of this video, snorted by the woman who played the mermaid -- who knew? Maybe that's where the budget for this video went. The rest went for dry ice. Watch the video here. = - Afterthought: Guess who else began her career by starring in an famous early '80s video? Courteney Cox in Bruce Springsteen's "Dancing in the Dark" . The year was 1984 and, like The Tubes video, the budget was obviously tight. IMDB reports that CC was only paid $350 for the video. Hell, I'd take it.

Audrey Rose Georges turned one year old today. Her mom, Angela, made this wonderful invitation for the occasion and has done an excellent job of documenting Audrey from a positive pregnancy test to her most recent milestone, taking her first steps, through her blog, My Daily Struggle . This is one well-documented and adored kid and I hope Angela and Papa Tim congratulate themselves on 12 months of excellent hard work. Audrey is a little superstar.

Extreme close up

My humble little blog was one of the 12 things to do this week listed in the Birmingham News' City Scene. Muchas gracias grande to Mary Colurso, music editor, for the mention. It's nice to know folks are actually reading this labor of love.

Does this behavior trace back to the ancient pre-domesticated feline? Deep in the brain of the orange tabby does he know he blends in with his surroundings and is partially camoflauged? Does he looks like he cares? Not when this photo was taken, but Miles is an excellent hunter and can overpower his smaller, but meaner, gray tabby brother any day. A few interesting facts about catus domesticus: Cats have 32 muscles that control the outer ear (compared to human's 6 muscles each). A cat can rotate its ears independently 180 degrees, and can turn in the direction of sound 10 times faster than those of the best watchdog. - In relation to their body size, cats have the largest eyes of any mammal. - A cat sees about 6 times better than a human at night, and needs 1/6 the amount of of light that a human does - it has a layer of extra reflecting cells which absorb light. - A cat has approximately 60 to 80 million olfactory cells (a human has between 5 and 20 million). - The domestic cat is...

The American Idol buzz is louder than ever locally and nationally as the fifth season concludes. It's impossible to get away from news of the show and since Birmingham has had three contestants in the top three for the past three years, it has become a sport of sorts -- an entertainment Iron Bowl. Unfortunately, the past local winner and runner-up don't seem to be making the most of their success. Bo Bice, when not punching ex-NFL linemen in bar fights , has been headlining small town America music festivals and has stayed way below the radar in the last year. Ruben Studdard looked like he would fill the now empty void left by the late Luther Vandross. It seemed like the beginning of a great career, but where is Ruben? He has done a lot of local charity work and has a new album in the works produced by the legendary Mario Winans , but seems to have sunk in the public profile department. The American Idol curse seems to treat the winners and runners-up like novelty acts that won...

With four kids in four years, Kevin Federline might be the most genetically successful celebrity of the moment. Instead of flashing a suburban gang sign, I think he is saying in this photo that he will impreganate each of his women twice before moving on to the next. His reproductive prowess rivals the champion heavyweight stud supreme, Oscar De La Hoya , who fathered three children with three different women in a span of 13 months, 11 days back in 1998. I thought only AKC registered field trial dogs were able to get away with such behavior. If he had the ambition his sperm has, who knows how far K-Fed could go with his career. Of course having a career with any longevity or integrity would counter the trash de jour image that Spederline have so carefully crafted in the past two years. I have wanted to ignore them, but the tragedy that was their short-lived UPN series, "Chaotic" was the fatal car crash that I had to watch a couple of times. It wasn't stupid funny like ...

It has been interesting to watch the worlds of "real" news and "fake" news collide with the massive success of Comedy Central's political satire programs, "The Daily Show" and "The Colbert Report." In 2004 Jon Stewart appeared on CNN's "Crossfire" and blasted hosts Tucker Carlson and Paul Begala for what he described as "theater". The whole premise of the show was the two taking their respected sides on political issues, Begala, the middle left and Carlon, the middle right, while pretending to be hard-hitting with their guests. Stewart ragged the two for not holding politicians' feet to the fire and doing America a disservice. Soon after that broadcast, "Crossfire" was cancelled. CNN chief Jonathan Klein said, "I guess I come down more firmly in the Jon Stewart camp." Since that time, Carlson has switched networks, has new show on MSNBC called "The Situation" and he is now much ...